DUKAI
Dukai’s Liquor Library

Espresso Martini

Vodka Espresso

Coffee and vodka, shaken hard enough to build a head of crema that sits on the drink like the top of a good espresso.

  • Modern Classic
  • Vodka
  • Shaken
  • Short
  • Bitter
  • Coffee
  • After Dinner
  • Nightcap

Coffee Midnight

Coupe · No ice

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Ingredients

Makes
One drink
  • Vodka50 ml
  • Espresso, freshly drawn, still hot30 ml
  • Coffee liqueur10 ml
  • Simple Syrup10 ml

Garnish

  • Coffee beans · perched3 each

Method

  1. 01

    Draw the espresso and use it straight away, while it is still hot.

    The foam comes from fresh crema. Cold coffee gives a flat drink.

  2. 02

    Add the vodka, coffee liqueur, sugar syrup and espresso to a shaker with ice.

  3. 03

    Shake hard until the shaker is painfully cold.

    Longer and harder than feels necessary. This is what builds the head.

  4. 04

    To finish

    Double strain into a chilled coupe.

    A stray ground on the surface spoils the look of it.

  5. 05

    To finish

    Let the foam settle, then place three coffee beans on top.

House notes

The foam comes from the espresso, not from the shaking alone, so the coffee has to be fresh and it has to go in hot. Shake harder and for longer than you think, and double strain: a stray ground on the surface ruins the look of the thing.

Straight up in a chilled coupe. Three beans on the foam, placed rather than dropped.

Perfectly paired

  • Burnt Basque Cheesecake · The burnt top and the bitter coffee belong together.
  • Roasted hazelnuts
  • Tiramisu · Coffee beside coffee, which should not work and does.
  • Dark chocolate

Where it comes from

Dick Bradsell · London, GB · circa 1983 · Commonly attributed

Created by the London bartender Dick Bradsell around 1983, under the name Vodka Espresso. Cocktail references commonly place it at the Soho Brasserie; that is recorded here in words rather than as a venue, because it rests on recollection. The name Pharmaceutical Stimulant belongs to a later point in Bradsell's career, around 1998, and was never the drink's original name.

If you like this one

Please enjoy responsibly.